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Before the 1960s, it was really hard to get divorced in America.
Typically, the only way to do it was to convince a judge that your spouse had committed some form of wrongdoing, like adultery, abandonment, or “cruelty” (that is, abuse). This could be difficult: “Even if you could prove you had been hit, that didn’t necessarily mean it rose to the level of cruelty that justified a divorce,” said Marcia Zug, a family law professor at the University of South Carolina.
Then came a revolution: In 1969, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan of California (who was himself divorced) signed the nation’s first no-fault divorce law, allowing people to end their marriages without proving they’d been wronged. The move was a recognition that “people were going to get out of marriages,” Zug said, and gave them a way to do that without resorting to subterfuge. Similar laws soon […]
I must admit, this surprised me. I figured that the Republicans would go after birth control as that’s been on their agenda for a long while. Attacking no fault divorce, I guess, is a “natural” theologically based move, as is the prohibition on IVF. It will be interesting to see if the Democrats can mount an effective response.
I bet that 99.9% of those in favor of repealing no fault divorce are the kind of men who NEED a caregiver in the form of a wife. WEAK men!!!
Excellent point Wilma!